Legal and industry insiders are raising their eyebrows following the third day of arguments in the antitrust trial against Google when Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys seemed to highlight and praise the Russian government’s approach to the regulation of search engines.

During the trial, DOJ attorneys cited the Russian government's introduction of a choice screen for search engines as a positive example, a move that has been met with skepticism by industry observers. 

Adam Kovacevich, CEO and founder of the tech industry coalition Chamber of Progress highlighted the incongruity of the DOJ citing a government with what he described as "the most blatantly protectionist record of any global antitrust enforcer."

Following the DOJ's promotion of Russia's "choice screen" as mechanism that reportedly demonstrated the superior search engine in Russia is Yandex, Carl Szabo, the general counsel for NetChoice, described the line of argument put forth by the government as “desperate.”

“[T]he search market is sorting better in Putin’s Russia than in the USA?!” Szabo said sarcastically.

The Committee to Unleash Prosperity has described Yandex as "a propaganda tool for Putin."

Kovacevich pointed out that Yandex had dominated 60% of the search engine traffic for desktops in Russia until Google started leading on Android platforms. Subsequently, Yandex informed "Russian enforcers" in 2015, leading to an investigation by a Russian regulator into Google's Android operating system. 

The regulator found Google guilty of violating Russia's antitrust laws, a decision that boosted Yandex's stock and led to an official order for Google to "terminate abuse of dominant position.”